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Google Glass's Word on the Street Now Easier to Read


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A woman wearing Epson's Moverio 3D head-mounted display.

A new text display algorithm developed by researchers at Osaka University ensures that the messages posted on wearable displays appear in the darkest region in view at any given moment and in a readable color.

Credit: Epson

Wearable displays such as Google Glass and the Epson Moverio will enable users to read what is written on them as they walk down the street. However, the text will need to stand out from the constantly changing background, considering that the user could be in a dimly lit room one minute and under a bright blue sky the next.

Jason Orlovsky and colleagues at Osaka University have developed a text display algorithm that places the current message on the darkest region in view at any given moment and in a readable color. The handset's camera will plot a constantly changing heat map of viable on-screen reading locations. The algorithm also can split up a message into two small dark regions on either side of the user's field of view.

"Twitter feeds or text messages could be placed throughout the environment in a logical manner, much like signs are placed on either side of a street," the developers say.

From New Scientist
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Abstracts Copyright © 2013 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA


 

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